Sticky steering wheel

[ikesdad]

My BII has been sitting in the sun this past summer and now has a sticky to touch steering wheel. Is the plastic disintegrating ? How do I remedy this ?

 

[adsm08]

I had the same thing happen. I cleaned it down with denatured alcohol, and it helped for a bit, but the condition returned. Eventually I just got a steering wheel cover for it without ever finding a proper fix.

 

[ikesdad]

I've been doing the alcohol thing today but that's only getting the dirt off of mine.

 

[Denisefwd93]

I think it's ultraviolet & or something I remember reading about that automotive plastics outgasing even though they are many years old

 

[ikesdad]

I suspected that and have been wondering if there is a way to stop the process.

 

[Curious Hound]

Eat french fries while driving instead of glazed donuts.

This message composed solely of recycled electrons. Go green!

 

[Denisefwd93]

I've had plastic outdoor and camping gear get sticky like that over the years just toss it get another wheel I can't be that difficult

 

[bf750]

purple power the $hit out of it

 

[Doofy]

Armour-All then cornstarch or talcum powder.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

On my 87 (which was quite bad all the way around) I used concentrated (by the gallon) 100% strength Simple Green first, then brake clean sprayed on a rag, then followed up with Simple Green again. It took care of the problem for the last 10-12 months. It's starting to return again ever so slightly on the 12 o'clock position of the wheel. I'll just do it all over again..

I do recommend you test this method on a very small portion of the wheel first, just in case it would discolor your wheel or anything, but it's worked for me.


GB

 

[JerryC]

I used windex to clean mine and it was still sticky. Some twenty year Armor-All got rid of the stickiness and made it so slippery I had to be aware to grip the wheel more than I used to. It's been a couple of months and the wheel is slick but not slippery.
Looking close at the wheel, all of the texture is gone off the contact surfaces. I don't know how that happened.
Someday a leather wrap will go on there.

 

[mr_manny]

My new to me B2 had a tacky cover on it...found a sticky wheel underneath.
I cleaned with some armorall, and installed one of those faux leather wraps over it.
Have been doing this mod to all my vehicles the last few years.

I had to trim quite a bit off the wraps width, because the OD on the original wheel was on the skinny side.

It takes a bit to install, but the results are well worth the effort.
The steering wheel also has a more premium feel when your done.

 

[Brain75]

I did the exact same thing to my ranger too - I found em on aliexpress and couldn't resist for the price. Looks like you have a hook tool on the seat, that is the key to getting good professional looking results, lace it all up snug by hand then go back and pull it tight with the hook like you would skate laces.

FWIW, I took a spray bottle with ~500ml water and 3 drops of grease cutting liquid dish soap (like ajax/dawn) and washed the wheel 4 times with new paper towels each time. It looked to me like all the sticky was just grime, and once I got all of it off down to the bone I used meguires "back to black" on it before covering.

 

[Brain75]

I'll give an install tip too, align the factory seam of the cover at 6 o clock like in mr_manny's last pic, then start lacing from 12 o clock with 50% of the thread hanging out tail, that way you are only ever fighting half the length not the whole thing, and you mate the two halves back together at 6 o clock and bury the knot it looks seamless.

 

[JohnG]

My new to me B2 had a tacky cover on it...found a sticky wheel underneath.
I cleaned with some armorall, and installed one of those faux leather wraps over it.
Have been doing this mod to all my vehicles the last few years.

View attachment 120712

I had to trim quite a bit off the wraps width, because the OD on the original wheel was on the skinny side.

View attachment 120713

It takes a bit to install, but the results are well worth the effort.
The steering wheel also has a more premium feel when your done.

View attachment 120714

Where did you get yours?